It is millers who are importing maize, not cartels – Govt

May 13, 2017 5:12 pm

Agriculture Principal Secretary Dr Richard Lesiyampe said maize for human consumption is being imported from Mexico, Ethiopia, Zambia and South Africa/FILE

By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13- The Government on Saturday said that all the maize being imported from Mexico is being done by private millers for human consumption and for animal feeds.

Agriculture Principal Secretary Dr Richard Lesiyampe said maize for human consumption is being imported from Mexico, Ethiopia, Zambia and South Africa.

He stated that the importation of maize is open to all Kenyans.

“The importation is not a preserve of cartels as claimed but it is open to any Kenyan business person who can undertake importation,” he insisted.

Already some 300,000 bags of white maize are being off loaded at the Mombasa port.

By the end of this month, he said some 900,000 bags of maize will have been imported in a move set to mitigate the cost of flour.

The country’s monthly sifted maize meal consumption is about 1.5 million bags every month according to the Principal Secretary.

“By September it is expected that 6 million bags will have been imported and this will be enough to resolve the maize crisis in the country,” he said in a statement to Newsrooms on Saturday.

“Yesterday (Friday 12th May 2017) there was a gazette notice that allows duty free importation of sugar and powdered milk. The measures are expected to have drastic positive impact on the prices of unga, milk and sugar.By October, some regions in the country will be harvesting maize; South Rift, Nyanza and Western.”

He pointed out that, “15 animal feeds millers were identified to import 4 million bags of yellow maize by September 2017 and the first consignment of 1 million bags is expected by end of June 2017.”